My U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,472 [the “'472 patent”], issued Oct. 2, 2001, discloses and claims a welding system and method including a distributed welding control system that allows a welding operator to program automated welding cycles for various welding operations, and that is particularly useful for installing stiffener plates onto structural beams. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,472, the welding system includes a welding fixture with a pair of opposing, positionally adjustable welding shoes, and lock screws for attaching a workpiece such as an I-beam. A rotary straight wire feeder removes the cant and helix from welding wire as it is fed to the welding torch. The welding torch is attached to the power cables coming from the welding power supply and is a receptacle for the consumable guide tube. Wire feed conduits are attached to the wire feeder on one end and the welding torch on the other. During the welding operation, welding wire is feed from the wire feeder, through the wire feed conduits to the welding torch. The wire then travels through the welding torch to the consumable guide tube and is attached to the output of the welding torch. The consumable guide tube and the welding wire carry the welding current to the molten weld puddle at the bottom of the weld cavity, and is suitable for the present application for an assembly, system and method for automated vertical moment connection.
My U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/731,414, filed Dec. 9, 2003 and related U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716 [the “'716 patent”], discloses and claims a modular welding system for performing quick, easy and high quality welds. The modular welding system of application Ser. No. 10/731,414, and related U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716 issued Sep. 30, 2008, includes a basic component system and a modular fixture component system. The basic component system provides the basic components necessary to perform a quality weld efficiently. The modular component system interfaces with the basic component system and provides a particular welding fixture assembly that performs a particular type of weld. More particularly, a stiffener type modular component system and a butt/tee type modular system fixture system are disclosed and claimed. The modular welding system of application Ser. No. 10/731,414, and related U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716, easily may be integrated with the basic components of the assembly, system and method for automated vertical moment connection.
My U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,159 [the “'159 patent”], issued May 2, 2006, discloses and claims a system and method for Electroslag butt-welding expansion joint rails comprising a distributed welding control system. The method includes defining a weld cavity with a first expansion joint rail, a second expansion joint rail, a plurality of gland shoes, and a pair of butt shoes, and can be adapted for welding an expansion joint rail to a support beam. The system and method of U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,159 easily may be integrated with the basic components the present application for an assembly, system and method for automated vertical moment connection.
My U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 [the “'443 patent”], issued Dec. 12, 2006, discloses and claims a consumable guide tube including a thin first elongate strip, a second elongated strip, and a plurality of insulators. An embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 includes a thin first elongate strip that is a low carbon cold-rolled steel strip, and a second elongated strip which is a low carbon hot-rolled steel strip. The guide tube of U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 can also be configured to include two or more longitudinal channels, and easily is adaptable to the assembly, system and method for automated vertical moment connection.
My U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/591,190, filed Oct. 30, 2006, discloses and claims a consumable guide tube including a thin first elongate strip, a second elongated strip, and a plurality of insulator modules. An embodiment of application Ser. No. 11/591,190 includes a thin first elongate strip that has a front face and a back face. The front face has at least one longitudinal channel. The second elongated strip has is a front face and a back face and the front face is of the second elongated strip is configured to be coupled to the front face of the thin first elongated strip. A plurality of insulator modules are deposited on the back face of the thin first elongated strip and on the back face of the second elongated strip. Preferably, the thin first elongated strip is a low carbon cold rolled steel strip, and the second elongated strip is a low carbon hot rolled steel strip. The guide tube of application Ser. No. 11/591,190 can also be configured to include two or more longitudinal channels. The guide tube of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/591,190 can also be configured to include two or more longitudinal channels, and easily is adaptable to the present application for an assembly, system and method for automated vertical moment connection.
My U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/483,977, filed Jun. 12, 2009 [the “'977 application”], discloses and claims a system and method for narrow-gap Electroslag-welded moment connections welded between vertical column flanges and includes vertical column doubler plates with top and bottom stiffeners and horizontal beam side plates aligned with the doubler plates to carry the moment load through the vertical support columns. An embodiment of the '977 application includes a radius in each side plate. Disclosure of an automated modular method for narrow-gap electroslag-welded moment connections is included in the '977 application, and the '977 application is readily suitable for the present application for an assembly, system and method for automated vertical moment connection.
The following disclosure provides an assembly, system and method for Electroslag welding horizontal beams to vertically aligned work-pieces for structures with unlimited multiple floor levels, in particular spliced vertical columns to provide moment connections with overdesign factors. An embodiment includes a distributed control system having a plurality of controller modules and a common bus connecting each controller module. Each controller module includes at least one operator control panel module. The system includes at least one welding torch configured to receive at least one consumable guide tube that is placed into the welding cavity. The welding torch is coupled to the welding fixture adjacent to each centerline. The system also includes first and second elongated, parallel rotating shafts according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 and pending U.S. Non-provisional Utility patent application Ser. No. 11/202,020, which are herein incorporated; first and second linear actuators according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 and pending U.S. Non-provisional Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/731,414 and related U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716, which are herein incorporated. These actuators are movably mounted on the rotating shafts and include an assembly for longitudinally translating the linear actuators along the shafts as the shafts rotate according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 and pending U.S. Non-provisional Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/731,414 and related U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716, which are herein incorporated. The system also includes an assembly for sensing movement of the linear actuators according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 and pending U.S. Non-provisional Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/731,414 and related U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716, which are herein incorporated, and a protective housing assembly for enclosing the rotating shafts, the actuators, the longitudinally translating assembly, and the sensing assembly, for oscillating each welding torch with the cavity.
My U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,716 [the “'716 patent”], issued Sep. 30, 2008, discloses and claims a basic component system and a modular fixture component system for performing quick, easy and high quality welds.
The automated assembly, system and method for vertical moment connection is welding combines certain disclosed and claimed features of my patents described herein, and/or their continuation or continuation-in-part progeny, to allow a welding operator to program automated welding cycles for various welding operations; and, as a result, these patents are particularly useful for an automated assembly, system and method for vertical moment connection welding.